Customer Reviews

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

The game i considered a trivial masterpiece. However, i later picked up this novel just to use as bathroom reading, it seemed short enough.

The author sure left a lot of stuff out of the game, which would have probably made it a better book too. The romance with Abdel and Jaheira was still really lame (but atleast it didnt make me laugh like Baldur's gate one did though,) and Imoen, seems more like a plot herself then an actual character. If you want to read some good fantasy/adventure, try novels by RA Salvatore or Cunningham. For a truly submersive BGII experience, play the game and dont read the book, it gives FR a bad name.

The follow up to the game of Baldur's Gate was great, and so is this book. As the first game was, this is game was a bit hard to follow story wise. But this book brings it all together. Phillip Athens, the writer of the fist novel in the trilogy does a great job telling the story in detail of Abdel and his companions. We even get to follow them into a drow city deep under the world that we dont know much about. This story is essential to the outcome of the trillogy.
It is here that we get plunged deeper into the city of Baulder's Gate, and deeper into the lives of Abdel and his companions. The battles are well written out and hold on to the reader tightly. This is the story that brings everything you have been wondering about together. The feeling is much deeper than that of the first, which is great. You will find plenty of turns and twists in this second novel of the Baldur's Gate series. I recommend this book to any fan of the games or fans of the first book.
Writing a fantasy novel is difficult in itself, but writting a book that is based on a best selling video game trilogy is even more difficult. Why? Because you have to be able to keep the fans reading and give them the same sense of adventure that they experienced in the game. Leaving it at that, I feel that Athens hit a perfect mark with this second book.

I was quite disappointed and somewhat shocked. In addition to the poor writing style/etc. pointed out by the other reviewers I was disturbed to find a sexual encounter with a vampire and then a lesbian sexual encounter later in the book. I am by no means a prude and recognize the rather explicit nature of our society today, however it still surprised me to find them present.

I have long been a fan of the D&D based/themed books (Dragonlance, FR series, etc.) but this really is trash. I hope it does not reflect the nature of the other D&D books which are out there since my son enjoys reading them - and I certainly hadn't expected this type of content. I'm going to need to catch up on my reading (yes, we do censor what our child reads/watches/etc.) before allowing my son to read any more in these settings.

Wow, this book is really really badly written. Anyone who is a fan of the Baldur's Gate games (as I am) should stay away from this book because it is terrible. It bears almost no resemblance to the game or any of the characters in any way. The standard of writing is extremely low.

This book, which I expected to be a basic novelization of the game, was loosly based upon the BGII plot. The characters were dumbed-down, the romance plot was sickening, and the events were poorly connected. The whole point of the book seemed to be stuff as much gore and "romance" in as possible, who cares about plot! It was de-evolved to such a degree that the only things happening were what you would expect to see in a book from a 99 cent sale bin. Which is where you'll probably find it. My suggestion: go read Tolkien or Tamora Pierce if you wish to read some real fantasy.

If you are a fan of D&D or similar fantacy stories, this is a pretty good book. If your expecting it to be just like the pc game you might be a bit disappointed. If you just enjoy a good fantacy story about fighters, mages, vampires, druids ect. it should be quite entertaining.

First off, let me say I am a fan of the BG series. But this is a truely terrible translation. For instance, the bald Minsc has long, red hair. Also, the perverted author decided to include many innapropriate passages, and made one important character(Imoen) a lesbian! This book is a terrible insult to DnD fans 'round the world. At least BG I only mentioned bare parts once or twice(not much to be proud of there either). The author goes out on a limb to have as many naughty parts included as he can. And the villain, Irenicus, whom schemed his way through the game is nothing but a bumbling idiot here. Phaere is also a lesbian and nearly every woman Abdel, the protagonist meets, he eventually has some sort of relationship with. Sounds like a real jerk to me. Not to mention the battles are bogged down in description of gore and not enough action. The hero here is simply a self centered promiscuous arse, and Jaheira has no reason to fall in love with him. Lastly, all characters in the game are terrible represented. Ignore this book and avoid it at all costs. Go read LOTR for a REAL fantasy (and not a sick one).

I've played through Baldurs Gate: Shadows of Amn a number of times and was so into the genre and general story I thought reading the book would add to the general enjoyment. However, this book was very disappointing. I found the book poorly written, having a limited range of vocabulary and with a poorly structured plot. By this I mean that the story that people who play the game are familiar with is mauled out of shape in this tale. The characters are badly drawn and not really fleshed out. I had no real affinity for the main character, Abdel, at any point during the read. Battles and fights seem to waste words on gruesome or over-gory details. Anyone who knows the story could write so much better than this. Probably one of the worst books I've ever read.

...
Well anyway the books o.k. It's worse than 'Throne of Bhaal'
but still not the worst bk. I ever read. It at least doesn't get boring like some terrible bks. I've read. I wrote a review for Throne of Bhaal already; there still are mature acts in the bk.
I don't think its stupid its just...... Anyway readers, don't try readin' this book if you haven't read any other great fantasy from DL and FR. Ignore the other reviews.
O.K... it wasn't what any of us expected and its sometime's confusin' and the game's 'much' better but that doesn't mean you can't read the book. Just read this book when you have lots of time on your hands. It ain't the worst bk. in the world so its worth a try.
Read it when you're good ready!

Nathan

I was pretty sure it couldn't be good when I bought it; what could you except? But I just had to see what was in it, the game being so great and all. When I actually read it... at first, I was sort of captivated, though I didn't particularly like the author's choices. Then I started feeling disappointed, which quickly changed to disgust that almost managed to keep deepening throughout the whole book, particularly as the end was written so ridiculously badly.
Different bad areas of the book included:
The plot: It looked like the author had been given a list of the main events in the game, each described in at most one short sentence, and he'd interpreted it as badly as possible.
The quality of writing: Simply bad. The only real descriptions were ones of sex or violence, otherwise it was just "they went there an' did that".
The characters: This is what really makes the book so disgustingly stupid. The protagonist, Abdel Adrian (may his wormlike soul be used as a bait for Hadesian fish forever), is stupider than an old boot, violent, selfish and weak-willed. He's also a hero, it says so in the book. It appears that he'd killed Khalid and Jaheira had fallen in love with him (anyone who's played either BG knows that's not exactly likely). And now this "Jaheira" was captured; what is the first thing our hero does? Goes to save her? No, that's the second thing, the first is to betray her with another woman. And then Adrian (may his name be used as a swearword by people with good taste everywhere) has to be dragged along the plot forcefully, because his attitude is "Why would I wanna save the world and myself? I'll just go home." Apparently, Athans' BG 1 was a growth story where he became a... better person, and it shows in that now he occasionally decides *not* to kill someone after all, or pauses to think a few hypocratic thoughts.
The other characters are simply paper-thin and ridiculous. All the women are either sex objects or then weirdos who like Adrian even though he's usually only ever harmed them. About the most important function of Jaheira is to comfort him when he feels guilty about betraying her (he didn't mean to do it, and resisted the temptation for a whole two seconds). The illogicality of the other characters' behaviour shows in that Adrian becomes a bloody Hero in spite of what a disgusting idiot he really is. The dialogue is what you might expect from a combination of such writing skills and such characters.
Overall, when reading this, I felt rather cheated, but even more insulted. First, I play, with a heroic character (well, on another occasion villaneous, but at least I didn't pretend to be a hero then), this great game, enjoying its good plot, rich dialogue and characters and tactical and somewhat challenging battles. Then I read this book, supposedly based on the game, starring a violent, moronic infidel and a group of illogical, impersonal side characters, with a ridiculous plot, stupid dialogue and some gory and boringly elongated violence scenes.[....]